Game Freak developed the original Pokémon games for Nintendo.
The studio began as a self-published video-game magazine founded by Satoshi Tajiri and Ken Sugimori. It later became a software developer and created the Pokémon concept with Nintendo’s support. Game Freak handled the programming and core game development for Pocket Monsters Red and Green.
Those games were released for the Game Boy in Japan on February 27, 1996. Their design established the main Pokémon formula: exploring a world, catching creatures, training them, battling other Trainers, and trading species with another player.
Creatures is sometimes confused with Game Freak because it is another founding Pokémon rights holder and contributed technology, development support, and the Pokémon Trading Card Game. Nintendo published the games and provided the hardware platform. Game Freak, however, is the Japanese development studio most directly responsible for creating the original role-playing games and continuing the main series across later generations.